Accompaniment data format and video-song accompaniment apparatus adopting the same

A video-song accompaniment apparatus, comprising:

• an accompaniment information memory for storing accompaniment information following a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) standard;
• a lyrics information memory for storing corresponding lyrics information;
• an accompaniment signal generator for generating an accompaniment signal sequence based on said accompaniment information;
• a lyrics signal generator for generating a lyrics signal sequence based on said lyrics information;
• and
• a controller for controlling generation of said lyrics signal sequence in synchronization with reproduction of said accompaniment signal sequence, said controller controlling display of said lyrics signal sequence according to lyrics display control information;
• wherein lyrics display control information is loaded onto said accompaniment information stored in said accompaniment information memory, and
• wherein said lyrics display control information includes a display flag for permitting output of a portion of said lyrics signal sequence corresponding to a next measure of said accompaniment signal sequence by said lyrics signal generator, a color conversion flag instructing said lyrics signal generator to successively convert characters of the respective displayed portion of said lyrics signal sequence from a first color to a second color, and an erasure flag permitting erasure the respective displayed portion of said lyrics signal sequence corresponding to a currently reproduced measure of said accompaniment signal sequence by said lyrics signal generator.

A method of operating a video-song accompaniment apparatus having an accompaniment information memory storing accompaniment information following a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) standard, a lyrics information memory storing corresponding lyrics information, an accompaniment signal generator generating an accompaniment signal sequence based on the accompaniment information, a lyrics signal generator generating a video signal sequence based on the lyrics information, and a controller controlling generation of the lyrics signal sequence in synchronization with reproduction of the accompaniment signal sequence, the controller controlling display of the lyrics signal sequence according to lyrics display information embedded with the accompaniment information, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) reading a selected portion of the accompaniment information from an accompaniment information memory;
• (b) examining said selected portion and determining whether said selected portion corresponds to a channel message;
• (c) when said selected portion corresponds to said channel message, examining said channel message for lyrics display control information;
• (d) when said channel message contains said lyrics display control information, controlling the lyrics signal generator to generate the video signal sequence, from said lyrics information stored in said lyrics information memory, in accordance with said lyrics display control information;
• and
• (e) when said channel message contains said accompaniment information, controlling the accompaniment signal generator to generate the accompaniment signal sequence in accordance with said accompaniment information.